The present invention relates to devices for clamping and cutting objects, e.g. for clamping and cutting an umbilical cord.
In our earlier Patent Application WO95/08953, we described a device for squeezing and cutting members such as an umbilical cord that possesses substantial advantages in each of use, safety and ease of construction over previous devices. However, there are a number of respects in which the device described there can be still further improved.
In the device illustrated WO95/08953, when the clamp holder was lid all the way to the end of the clamps remote from their hinges, one clamp could be slid sideways out of the clamp holder by virtue of recesses in the clamp aligning with projections defining one side of the channel in which the clamp slid. When in this position, the clamp was under compression from the side walls of the channel in which it slid and the resulting friction would have to be overcome to allow the clamp to be pulled out of the channel. Also, if the clamp were moved further down the channel in this process, one or more of the said projections might get out of line with its respective projection, thus once again holding the clamp in the channel. The extraction of this clamp from the clamp holder in this way was not as rapid or easy as might be desired in an urgent situation such as the press of events that may accompany birth.
Accordingly, there is now provided according to a first aspect of the invention a clamping and cutting device comprising:
a pair of clamps each having a pair of legs joined at a hinge at one end thereof and openable apart to receive an object to be clamped and cut,
a clamp holder comprising cutting means and means for supporting said clamps side by side with one another with said cutting means between them and for guiding said clamps in a sliding movement within said clamp holder to advance said cutting means between said clamps to cut a said object in use whilst compressing the legs of said clamps to clamp said object,
said clamp support means disengaging from at least one of said clamps when the clamp is slid to a predetermined release point with respect to said clamp holder such that the clamp can be removed from said clamp holder in two directions each orthogonal to the direction of said sliding movement,
and pusher means for sliding (e.g. by pushing) said clamps through said clamp holder to said release point.
When the device is used for clamping an umbilical cord, a specific one of the two differing clamps in the illustrated device must be arranged on the baby side of the cut and the other on the mother side of the cut. One of the clamps, (the baby""s clamp) is designed to come away from the clamp holder when the cord is cut and is held shut by a catch, which is not normally released.
The other (the mother""s clamp) may be designed to remain in the clamp holder and is then easily released by sliding back the clamp holder along the clamp to enable sampling of the umbilical cord blood.
There may be a danger that in the heat of the moment these lamps could be put on the wrong sides of the cut. A similar problem could arise when clamping and cutting a member other than an umbilical cord which joins two dissimilar objects such that one clamp needs to be essentially permanent and the other needs to be readily openable.
This danger is greatly lessened or avoided according to a second aspect of the present invention which provides a clamping and cutting device comprising a pair of side by side dissimilar clamps and means for cutting between said clamps an object held in said clamps, said device including at least one end-obstructed finger receiving passage running transversely with respect to said side by side clamps for receiving a finger of a user gripping the device for operation thereof to carry out said clamping and cutting of said object.
Preferably said clamping and cutting device comprises said pair of clamps carried in a sliding clamp holder which slides along the clamps to force the clamps closed and carries a cutting device that passes between the clamps during said sliding of the clamp holder to cut a clamped object, and said clamp holder comprises said at least one closed-ended or end-obstructed finger receiving passage for use in gripping the clamp holder to slide the clamp holder along said clamps.
In an alternative approach to relieving the same problem, optionally usable in conjunction with said first or said second aspect of the invention, there is provided according to a third aspect a clamping and cutting device comprising a pair of structurally dissimilar clamps and means for cutting between said clamps an object held in said clamps, wherein the clamps are differently coloured.
In the device of WO95/08953, the two clamps had flat bodies. The one clamp had its longitudinally running edges received in opposed slots in the clamp holder, and when the clamp holder was fully at the hinge end of the clamp, there was little to prevent it from coming off the hinged end of this clamp. The hinge of the clamp was an enlarged diameter, part circular region of the clamp, but this would not provide sufficient retention of the clamp in the holder to enable it to be inserted upon manufacture and to remain in place reliably until use. Rather, it was expected that the clamp would be assembled to the clamp holder immediately before use. The other clamp ran in a channel defined on one face of the clamp by the web of the clamp holder and on the other by spaced nose-like projections, allowing for the clamp to be released when locked closed. Once again, this arrangement would not be sufficient to allow factory assembly. It has now been appreciated that is it advantageous for the clamps to be sufficiently reliably held in the clamp holder prior to use that the entire device can be assembled for use well in advance, e.g. at manufacture, without significant risk that either clamp will come out of the holder until the clamp holder has been used.
To improve the reliability with which the clamps are held in the clamp holder prior to use the invention provides according to a fourth aspect of the invention a clamping and cutting device comprising a pair of clamps each having a pair of legs hinged together at one end and openable apart to form an opening to receive an object between them to be clamped and cut, a clamp holder provided with a pair of clamp receiving channels defined between opposed wall members and separated by a web member connecting said wall members, which web member carries a cutting means, whereby the clamp holder can be slid along said clamps from the hinged end thereof to said other and to force said clamps shut and cut an object clamped therein, wherein each said channel and the respective clamp received therein are connected for relative sliding movement by the provision of a flanged rail on one of them received in and sliding in an undercut slot on the other.
Preferably an abutment is provided obstructing removal of one of the said clamps by sliding movement thereof out of said clamp holder.
All of the different aspect of the invention, or any desired combination of them may be used in combination as will be illustrated hereafter by the description of a preferred embodiment in which they are all combined.